A School History of the United States eBook

%270. Baltimore attacked.%—­Once on
the bay, the army was hurried on board the ships and
carried to Baltimore, where for a day and a night
they shelled Fort McHenry.[2] Failing to take it, and
Ross having been killed, Cockburn reembarked and sailed
away to Halifax.

[Footnote 2: Francis S. Key, an American held
prisoner on one of the British ships, composed the
words of The Star-Spangled Banner while watching
the bombardment.]

%271. The Victory at New Orleans.%—­The
army was taken to Jamaica in order that it might form
part of one of the greatest war expeditions England
had ever fitted out. Fifty of the finest ships
her navy could furnish, mounting 1000 guns and carrying
on their decks 20,000 veteran soldiers and sailors,
had been quietly assembled at Jamaica during the autumn
of 1814, and in November sailed for New Orleans.

News of this intended attack had reached Madison,
and he had given the duty of defending New Orleans
to Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, one of the most extraordinary
men our country has produced. The British landed
at the entrance of Lake Borgne in December, 1814,
and hurried to the banks of the Mississippi.
But Jackson was more than a match for them. Gathering
such a force of fighting men as he could, he hastened
from the city and with all possible speed threw up
a line of rude earthworks, and waited to be attacked.
This line the British under General Pakenham attacked
on January 8, 1815, and were twice driven back with
frightful loss of life. Never had such a defeat
been inflicted on a British army. The loss in
killed, wounded, and missing was 2036 men. Jackson
lost seventy-one men. Five British regiments
which entered the battle 3000 strong reported 1750
men killed, wounded, and missing.[1]

%272. Peace.%—­For a month after this
defeat the British lingered in their camp. At
last, in February, the army departed to attack a fort
on Mobile Bay. The fort was taken, and two days
later the news of peace put an end to war. The
treaty was signed at Ghent in December, 1814; but it
did not reach the United States till February, 1815.

In the treaty not a word was said about the impressment
of our sailors, nor about the right of search, nor
about the Orders in Council, nor about inciting the
Indians to attack our frontier, all of which Madison
had declared to be causes of the war. Yet we gained
much. Our naval victories made us the equal of
any maritime power, while at home the war did far
more to arouse a national sentiment, consolidate the
union, and make us a nation than any event which had
yet occurred.

SUMMARY

1. The land war may be divided into:

A. War along the frontier.
B. War along the Atlantic
coast.
C. War along the Gulf coast.